Red and Black Hockey

On Sunday afternoon, the Albany River Rats got themselves into trouble on the ice, and in the end they are in a two game hole in the best-of-seven series. The final score in Sunday’s game was 6-3, but in fairness it was much closer than that.

In a carbon copy of Saturday’s game, the Rats spent the entire third period in the box. There might be some speculation that the officials tilted the ice, but the fact of the matter is that the Rats have played undisciplined. They took four consecutive penalties in the third period on Saturday, then four consecutive in Sunday’s game two. Hershey, on the other hand, committed no third period penalties on Saturday. The only third period penalties against them on Sunday were fighting majors to match those of the Rats.

The Rats started the third period today with a shorthanded goal by Nick Dodge to take a 3-2 lead, but it all went downhill from there. The parade to the penalty box led to three straight power play goals and finally an empty-net goal in the dying seconds. This was followed by a lot of extracurricular activity that did nothing other than risk injuries and/or suspensions to Rats players. Naturally, Tim Conboy was involved in some of the rough stuff.

Aside from the shorthanded goal and one power play conversion, there wasn’t much to be happy about from a Rats standpoint. Justin Peters, who has been the only Rats goalie to see the ice this playoff season, stopped 20 of 25 shots for a miserable .800 save percentage. On the other side of the ice, the Rats only mustered 19 shots of their own. This, though, has been the strength of Hershey all regular season and during the playoffs. They’ve always done an excellent job of limiting the chances of their opponents.

Albany certainly has its work cut out for it as they head home for the next two games. Game three will be Tuesday, followed by game four on Friday.